LDR (Low Dynamic Range)- the counterpart to HDR (High Dynamic Range). For Vue beginners using IBL- (Image Based Lighting)- this just might be the EASIEST form of lighting in Vue 5 to get quick and fast results!

Here is an LDR scene lit TOTALLY by just a single white square!- You can load this square by looking in the Vue 5 Bitmaps folder--- it's called "TileBump" (240 x 240).

Here's a Poser figure added to the scene- (the background is just a square mapped with a previously rendered scene- so YES, you can include your favorite skies, terrains, etc in an Image Based Lighting scene. And it will render VERY FAST!)

Here's the problem that got me started with trying LDR instead of HDR for Poser figures (I also noticed that other people were posting overly BRIGHT or washed-out Poser figures...)

HDR is great for cars, buildings, etc.- BUT, for specifically Poser figures it can be TOO bright to work with and difficult to adjust. The white box on the bottom right is empty- but the HDR file I used was "SKIES"- the one found in your Vue 5 HDRI folder...

One of the things I tried was loading the background sky picture (which is a regular 24 bit Jpeg) and using that to light the image as an LDR file experiment...

Not bad, but still some overly bright high-lites to adjust...

So I went back and tried the initial LDR experiement of loading the white "TileBump" to see how it would look...

==A somewhat SOFTER and better looking Poser skintone- with less high-lite adjustment needed- but still some problems!

So I created my own 3" x 4" Medium-Gray tile and loaded that up as the source of LDR lighting.

Much better! A skintone that looks pretty nice with gray-scale values that aren't washed-out.

Thats a great explanation Veritas. I'll try it out on my next render. Alex

One FINAL experiment- I loaded up a tile that is normally used to create an underwater lighting effect- it has nice soft gray-scale tones, but with a bit of softer high-lites as well.

So- nice skin tone and nice natural high-lites too!

LDR gray-scale tiles are something to consider if you are creating Image Based Lighting scenes with Poser figures.
They are a FAST and EASY way to light your scenes with quick results even for a total beginner using Vue 5's new rendering options...

I tried this and see it's something I'll most likely use a lot. Thanks.

that last one is by far the best one and i totally agree ldr is sometimes quite preferable over hdri,anyhow ibl is great fun :)

thanks for the tips - this open up a whole new range of possibilities for me. Just one question - how did you manage to keep the background in sharp focus - mine always is blurred. I know I have asked this question in a separate thread but you seem by far the most knowledgeable on HDRI in this group Veritas so I thought I'd ask you directly Thanks

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12368&Form.ShowMessage=2003211

See this thread for answer- and the advantages of using simple LDR lighting with a back plane prop...